Techniques (pattern-forming techniques) in which a fine pattern is formed on top of a substrate, and a lower layer beneath that pattern is then fabricated by conducting etching with this pattern as a mask are widely used in the production of semiconductor devices and liquid display device. These types of fine patterns are usually formed from an organic material, and are formed, for example, using a lithography method or a nanoimprint method or the like. In lithography techniques, for example, a resist film composed of a resist material containing a base component such as a resin is formed on a support such as a substrate, and the resist film is subjected to selective exposure of radial rays such as light or electron beam, followed by development, thereby forming a resist pattern having a predetermined shape on the resist film. Using this resist pattern as a mask, a semiconductor or the like is produced by conducting a step in which the substrate is processed by etching.
The aforementioned resist material can be classified into positive types and negative types. Resist materials in which the exposed portions exhibit increased solubility in a developing solution is called a positive type, and a resist material in which the exposed portions exhibit decreased solubility in a developing solution is called a negative type.
In general, an aqueous alkali solution (alkali developing solution) such as an aqueous solution of tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) is used as the developing solution. Alternatively, organic solvents such as aromatic solvents, aliphatic hydrocarbon solvents, ether solvents, ketone solvents, ester solvents, amide solvents and alcohol solvents are used as the developing solution (for example, see Patent Document 1).
In recent years, advances in lithography techniques have lead to rapid progress in the field of pattern miniaturization.
Typically, these miniaturization techniques involve shortening the wavelength (increasing the energy) of the exposure light source. Conventionally, ultraviolet radiation typified by g-line and i-line radiation has been used, but nowadays KrF excimer lasers and ArF excimer lasers are starting to be introduced in mass production. Furthermore, research is also being conducted into lithography techniques that use an exposure light source having a wavelength shorter (energy higher) than these excimer lasers, such as electron beam (EB), extreme ultraviolet radiation (EUV), and X ray.
As shortening the wavelength of the exposure light source progresses, various lithography properties of the resist material are required, such as the sensitivity to the exposure light source and a resolution capable of reproducing patterns of minute dimensions. As resist materials which satisfy such requirements, chemically amplified resists are known.
As a chemically amplified composition, a composition including a base material component that exhibits a changed solubility in an alkali developing solution under the action of acid and an acid-generator component that generates acid upon exposure is generally used. For example, in a chemically amplified positive resist composition, a base component which exhibits increased solubility in an alkali developing solution under action of acid is used.
Conventionally, a resin (base resin) is typically used as the base component of a chemically amplified resist composition. Resins that contain structural units derived from (meth)acrylate esters within the main chain (acrylic resins) are the mainstram as base resins for chemically amplified resist compositions that use ArF excimer laser lithography, as they exhibit excellent transparency in the vicinity of 193 nm. Here, the term “(meth)acrylic acid” is a generic term that includes either or both of acrylic acid having a hydrogen atom bonded to the α-position and methacrylic acid having a methyl group bonded to the α-position. The term “(meth)acrylate ester” is a generic term that includes either or both of the acrylate ester having a hydrogen atom bonded to the α-position and the methacrylate ester having a methyl group bonded to the α-position. The term “(meth)acrylate” is a generic term that includes either or both of the acrylate having a hydrogen atom bonded to the α-position and the methacrylate having a methyl group bonded to the α-position.
In general, the base resin contains a plurality of structural units for improving lithography properties and the like. For example, in the case of a positive type, a structural unit having a lactone structure and a structural unit having a polar group such as a hydroxy group are generally used, as well as a structural unit having an acid decomposable group which is decomposed by the action of an acid generated from the acid generator to form an alkali soluble group (for example, see Patent Document 2). Among these structural units, a structural unit having a lactone structure is generally considered as being effective in improving the adhesion between the resist film and the substrate, and increasing the compatibility with an alkali developing solution, thereby contributing to improvement in various lithography properties.
In addition, a resin component useful for a resist has been proposed recently which contains a structural unit having a cyclic group including a sulfonyl group (—SO2—) (hereafter, frequently referred to as —SO2— containing cyclic group) (for example, see Patent Document 3). By virtue of including an —SO2— containing cyclic group, this resin component exhibits a high solubility in an alkali developing solution, as compared to a resin component in which the —SO2— containing group has been replaced by, for example, a lactone structure. Therefore, by using the resin component as the base resin, improvement in lithography properties such as resolution is expected.
As a technique for further improving the resolution, a lithography method called liquid immersion lithography (hereafter, frequently referred to as “immersion exposure”) is known in which exposure (immersion exposure) is conducted in a state where the region between the lens and the resist layer formed on a wafer is filled with a solvent (a immersion medium) that has a larger refractive index than the refractive index of air (see for example, Non-Patent Document 1).
According to this type of immersion exposure, it is considered that higher resolutions equivalent to those obtained using a shorter wavelength light source or a larger NA lens can be obtained using the same exposure light source wavelength, with no lowering of the depth of focus. Furthermore, immersion exposure can be conducted by applying a conventional exposure apparatus. As a result, it is expected that immersion exposure will enable the formation of resist patterns of higher resolution and superior depth of focus at lower costs. Accordingly, in the production of semiconductor devices, which requires enormous capital investment, immersion exposure is attracting considerable attention as a method that offers significant potential to the semiconductor industry, both in terms of cost and in terms of lithography properties such as resolution.
Immersion lithography is effective in forming patterns having various shapes. Further, immersion exposure is expected to be capable of being used in combination with currently studied super-resolution techniques, such as phase shift method and modified illumination method. Currently, as the immersion exposure technique, technique using an ArF excimer laser as an exposure source is being actively studied. Further, water is mainly used as the immersion medium.
As a lithography technique which has been recently proposed, a double patterning method is known in which patterning is conducted two or more times to form a resist pattern (for example, see Non-Patent Documents 2 and 3). There are several different types of double patterning process, for example, (1) a method in which a lithography step (from application of resist compositions to exposure and developing) and an etching step are performed twice or more to form a pattern and (2) a method in which the lithography step is successively performed twice or more. According to the double patterning method, a resist pattern with a higher level of resolution can be formed, as compared to the case where a resist pattern is formed by a single lithography step (namely, a single patterning process), even when a light source with the same exposure wavelength is used, or even when the same resist composition is used. Furthermore, double patterning process can be conducted using a conventional exposure apparatus.
Moreover, a double exposure process has also been proposed in which a resist film is formed, and the resist film is subjected to exposure twice or more, followed by development to form a resist pattern. Like the double patterning process described above, this type of double exposure process is also capable of forming a resist pattern with a high level of resolution, and also has an advantage in that fewer number of steps is required than the above-mentioned double patterning process.
In a positive tone development process using a positive type, chemically amplified resist composition (i.e., a chemically amplified resist composition which exhibits increased alkali solubility in an alkali developing solution upon exposure) in combination with an alkali developing solution, as described above, the exposed portions of the resist film are dissolved and removed by an alkali developing solution to thereby form a resist pattern. The positive tone process is advantageous over a negative tone development process in which a negative type, chemically amplified resist composition is used in combination with an alkali developing solution in that the structure of the photomask can be simplified, a satisfactory contrast for forming an image can be reliably obtained, and the characteristics of the formed resist pattern are excellent. For these reasons, currently, positive tone development process is tended to be used in the formation of an extremely fine resist pattern.
However, in the case of forming a trench pattern (isolated space pattern) or a hole pattern by the positive tone development process, it becomes necessary to form a resist pattern using an incident light weaker than that used in the case of a line pattern or a dot pattern, such that the contrast of the intensity of the incident light between exposed portions and unexposed portions becomes unsatisfactory. Therefore, pattern formation performance such as resolution tends to be restricted, and it becomes difficult to form a resist pattern with a high resolution.
In contrast, a negative tone development process using a negative type, chemically amplified resist composition (i.e., a chemically amplified resist composition which exhibits decreased alkali solubility in an alkali developing solution upon exposure) in combination with an alkali developing solution is advantageous over the positive tone development process in the formation of a trench pattern or a hole pattern.
As a negative tone development process, a process has been proposed in which a positive type, chemically amplified resist composition is used in combination with a developing solution containing an organic solvent (hereafter, frequently referred to as “organic developing solution”) (for example, see Patent Document 4). A positive type, chemically amplified resist composition exhibits increased solubility in an alkali developing solution upon exposure, but comparatively, the solubility in an organic solvent is decreased. Therefore, in a negative tone development process, the unexposed portions of the resist film are dissolved and removed by an organic solvent-type developing solution to thereby form a resist pattern.